


Little Boxes

by Jo (jmathieson)



Series: Tangents and Intersections ~ Kink Bingo 2013 [82]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Community: kink_bingo, Definitely not AoS, Domestic Fluff, Jossed, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Suburbia, Vanilla Kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-14
Updated: 2013-10-14
Packaged: 2017-12-29 10:31:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1004349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jmathieson/pseuds/Jo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil takes Clint away for the weekend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Little Boxes

**Author's Note:**

> Kink Bingo Round Six (2013) ~ Vanilla kink

"What's all this?"

Clint came into their bedroom to find packed bags on the bed and Phil getting both of their shaving kits out of the bathroom.

"We're going away for the weekend," Phil said. "Surprise," he added with a grin.

"Um... OK. Where are we going?"

"Can that be a surprise too?"

"I guess, if you want."

"Hey." Phil stopped packing and went to put his arms around Clint. "Is everything OK?"

"Yeah. Sorry. I know you'd like a more enthusiastic reaction. Thank you for planning a weekend away for us. I guess it's just, with all the weirdness we've been going through lately, I'm not so much in the mood for surprises. I'd... I'd just kinda like things to be normal for a while. Or at least what passes for normal around here."

"I know what you mean, love, truly. That's actually why I wanted us to go away for the weekend. 'As normal as things get around here' isn't really very normal. I wanted us to take a break out in the world where people go shopping for themselves rather than having an AI stock the fridge, and you actually have to get up and walk across the room to turn the lights off. No offence, JARVIS," Phil said.

"None taken, sir."

"Heh, yeah, well when you put it like that, it sounds pretty good, actually. OK, when do we leave?"

"Right now. We're all packed and ready to go." Clint grabbed both bags and threw them over his shoulder.

"Lead on!"

Ten minutes later they were sitting in Lola in a traffic jam. Phil seemed surprisingly unconcerned about it, and when he didn't pull out his StarkPad to bring up a schematic of the traffic conditions, Clint asked him why.

"I didn't bring it. Yours either. Hope that's OK?"

"You didn't bring our StarkPads."

"Nope. Just our personal cell phones. Someone will call if there's a planet-threatening emergency, but otherwise we're offline for the weekend."

"OK, sure." Clint put on his sunglasses, stretched his legs out and leaned back in his seat. 

It took them almost two hours to get to their destination. Phil pulled into a driveway and tossed Clint a set of keys.

"Mind going to open the garage door?"

"No problem," Clint said and hopped out of the car without bothering to open the door. He sorted through the keys until he found one that fit the garage and rolled the door open. Phil edged carefully in beside the lawnmower and garbage cans.

"Phil, where are we?"

"Jersey."

"Yeah, I got that, but why are we at... a non-descript house in a suburb of Newark?"

"I borrowed it."

"You borrowed a house."

"Yes. It's a SHIELD safehouse. I borrowed it for the weekend."

"OK, 'cause when you said we were going away for the weekend, I just figured you meant to a hotel or a B&B or a resort or something."

"Well, we live in Stark Tower. It's got better services than most five-star resorts, so I thought that for a change, we could go live in a regular house for the weekend."

"Do I get to mow the lawn?" Clint asked, joking.

"Sure, if you want to."

Phil locked the garage behind them and led the way into the house.

It was... nice. Plainly furnished, not too expensive, but not cheap either. A slightly battered sofa sat in front of a not-ostentatiously large TV. There was a bookcase full of random paperbacks and a CD/DVD rack with a wide selection of music and movies. Clint knew the fridge would be stocked with milk, juice, soda, and beer, as well as sandwich fixings and a tub of potato or macaroni salad. The freezer would be full of pizza, lasagna, pot-pies, and toaster waffles. There would be boxes of cereal and jars of peanut butter and jelly in the cupboard. And somewhere in the house there would be a well-hidden panel that concealed a gun safe that held firearms, ammunition, an emergency radio, cash, and replacement identity documents. It was, in short, a bog-standard SHIELD safehouse. Clint felt instantly at home.

"Thanks boss, this is great." Clint grinned at Phil.

"Really? I wasn't sure - " Clint pulled him into a hug and kissed him.

"It's perfect. It reminds me of all the missions where we got stuck in a safe-house for a couple of days together. They were my favourites."

"Yes," Phil said quietly into Clint's shoulder, "mine too."

They settled in comfortably and heated up frozen pizza for dinner and Phil let Clint pick a movie. They talked non-stop about old missions and the safehouses they had used on them.

"Remember the one with the pink everything?"

Phil groaned, "How could I forget? For three days after we left, every time I closed my eyes I saw that god-awful wallpaper." It had had big pink roses on it, and had covered practically every wall in the three-room apartment. The furnishings, carpets, and bathroom fixtures were all pink to match. "At least it was better than the one in San Mateo."

"Venezuela, you mean, because the one in California was OK," Clint said.

"Yes. Venezuela, and you're just proving that you remember we've been to two San Mateos on missions." 

"Three, if you count the time we airdropped into Columbia. I'm pretty sure we were in San Mateo for about ten minutes that time." Clint was ginning like a clever schoolboy.

"Remind me, was that the time you ate the local equivalent of a chili dog and then spent the next three days throwing up?"

Clint opened his mouth to shoot back a smart comeback, but then his eyes and his expression softened.

"You were really good to me, that time when I was sick. It was after that that I started to believe that you really liked me, as a friend, I mean, rather than me just being your responsibility as a SHIELD asset."

Phil smiled, "And you dragged yourself up into a tree and made the shot, even though you were so weak you could barely draw your bow. You gave the mission your all without complaining. I respected you so much for that."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

"You never told me."

"Well I'm telling you now. Come here." They snuggled up together on the sofa and watched a movie and after the first half-hour started remembering to use the remote rather than asking JARVIS to pause it for them when they wanted to add colour commentary. 

They went to bed and had sex and fell asleep. They woke up the next morning and snuggled and argued half-heartedly about which one was getting up to make the coffee and then had sex again. Phil ended up making coffee while Clint showered and pulled on jeans and a t-shirt. He smiled widely over the rim of his coffee cup twenty minutes later when Phil walked into the kitchen, freshly showered and also wearing jeans. 

"Come here you sexy thing!" Clint said, grabbing Phil's ass and nibbling his neck.

"Love you," Phil murmured into Clint's ear.

"Love you too. So, what are we doing today?"

"What do you want to do? We could go for a drive. We could sit in the backyard and drink beer and listen to the ball game on the radio. You could mow the lawn while I wash and wax Lola," Phil chuckled as he suggested that last one, but Clint jumped on it.

"Yes. Perfect. And then after I've done the yard work we'll do the beer and ballgame thing. Does this place have a BBQ, we could grill some steaks?" Clint's eyes were shining.

"If it doesn't have a BBQ we'll go find a hardware store and buy one. Are you sure? I was kind of joking about washing and waxing Lola, though I sure wouldn't mind watching you push a lawnmower around the yard."

"And I wouldn't mind watching you bend over Lola's hood to buff the finish. Deal?"

"Deal."

They were like two children playing at being grown-ups, except that instead they were playing at being regular people. Clint got out the lawnmower, gassed it up, and yanked the starter cord. Phil found a bucket and a sponge and the garden hose. As they worked, they grinned at the absurdity, and Clint only just managed to stop himself from waving at people who drove by, because he felt like he was role-paying a 1960s sitcom. 

The house did in fact have a BBQ, which Clint discovered when he mowed the back lawn. They checked when the ball game started (2pm) and decided to go out for groceries (steaks, and more beer). The grocery store was an adventure. Clint couldn't remember the last time he'd been in one, and Phil figured it had been over a year since he had. Prices had gone up, package sizes had gone down, and the sheer number of packaged convenience foods seemed to have tripled. Clint kept picking up enticing-looking packages, and then actually reading the labels, grimacing, and putting them back on the shelves. Tony’s über-healthy snack regime seemed to have rubbed off on him somehow.

Phil steered them to the meat counter and got their steaks. 

"Baked potatoes, potato salad, or fries?"

"Potato salad, it's more outdoorsy."

Phil put a tub of potato salad in the cart and went off to choose the beer. Clint wandered down the cereal aisle out of curiosity. He was looking at a package of Special-K with a picture of Cap on the box when he felt a presence and glanced around, and then down. There was a small boy with cappuccino-coloured skin and curly dark hair standing next to him, looking up at him with big brown eyes.

"Excuse me, mister. Did you know that you look like Hawkeye the Avenger?"

Clint crouched down.

"Well, yes, I did. You know why I look like Hawkeye the Avenger?" The little boy shook his head. "Because I am Hawkeye the Avenger."

"Nah, you can't be. He doesn't live around here. He lives in Stark Tower in Manhattan."

"That's right, I do. But today I'm on an undercover mission, keeping your neighbourhood safe." The boy looked skeptical. "I may not be Captain America, but I don't lie to little boys."

"I'm not so little."

"No, you're right. You're not so little. Look, I need to go find my... ah... friend."

"It's OK, you can say 'boyfriend'. I won't be shocked. My cousin Lucy has two moms."

Clint blinked. "Well, good. That's good. My boyfriend is probably wondering where I am, so I'm gonna go find him. Do you need help finding your mom? Or dad?"

"No thanks. She's in line right there." The boy pointed to a woman in the cash register line entertaining a baby in the cart seat.

"OK, then. It was nice meeting you." Clint stuck out his hand.

"Jeffrey," the little boy said, and shook.

"It was nice meeting you Jeffrey. I'm Clint."

"I know," said the boy, and nodded, and turned and ran down the isle towards his mom.

Clint found Phil in the freezer aisle, looking at ice cream.

"What's the difference between vanilla and French vanilla?" he asked, looking over Phil's shoulder.

"Two bucks, apparently," Phil said, putting both back on the shelf and grabbing a pint each of Cherry Garcia and Mint Chocolate Chunk and putting them in the basket. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah, I think we'd better. I just got made by a six-year-old." Phil laughed.

They went home, sat in the yard, drank beer, listened to the ball game. They grilled steaks and ate them with outdoorsy potato salad. They curled up on the sofa and watched a movie they'd both seen eight times.

"Is there a standard set of movies that they buy for safe-houses? That makes no sense, I mean, you'd want there to be different movies in each place, so that you didn't get stuck watching Good Will Hunting for the ninth time."

"I'll be sure to write a memo when we get back."

"Oh, shush," Clint said, and kissed him.

They went to bed and had sex and fell asleep. 

They both woke up with a start the next morning when something went 'thump' at the front of the house. Phil was halfway out of bed grabbing for his pants and his sidearm when he shook his head and fell back onto the mattress.

"Sunday paper. Sorry, I forgot I ordered it."

"That's OK. Want me to go get it?"

"Sure, start the coffee too, will you?"

"Yes boss."

Clint came back with the paper and Phil sorted out the "Lifestyle" section for himself, handing Clint "Entertainment" and the funnies. They read the paper and drank coffee and then had sex again. They showered together and then had a late brunch. As they ate, clouds rolled in and it started to rain.

"Well, there go any outdoor plans we had."

"Didn’t know we had any plans."

"You won't be bored just sitting around indoors all day?"

"Bored is good. Bored means no one is trying to shoot us or turn us into reptiles. I like bored. I like it a lot."

"Good."

They spent the afternoon curled up on the sofa together watching movies.

"Pause that, will you, I'm going to get a beer. Want one?"

"Sure."

Phil came back a couple of minutes later to find Clint stretched out full length on the sofa.

"Falling asleep on me?" he asked, crouching down in front of Clint.

"Nope, just thought I'd stretch out so we can lie down together for the rest of the film, that OK?"

"Definitely OK." He put a hand on Clint's cheek and leaned in to kiss him softly, then pulled back and just looked at him. "I love you," he said softly.

"Love you too, Phil. What is it?"

"I... I had this whole speech planned out in my head. And now I can't remember any of it, except... except that the last part of it went something like this: Every time I look at you, I think how lucky I am that I have you in my life. I don't want that to ever change. I want us to be together for the rest of our lives." Phil shifted a little and pulled a small box out of his pocket. "Clinton Francis Barton, will you marry me?" He opened the box to reveal a pair of gold rings.

Clint barely glanced down at the contents of the box, he couldn't bear to look away from Phil's shining eyes.

"Yes. Yes of course I'll marry you Phil. Of course. Oh, Phil." Clint grabbed his face in both hands and pulled him in for a kiss. He didn't let go for a long time, and eventually they were both gasping for air and giggling together. Clint pulled Phil up to lie with him on the sofa.

"Show me the rings. I didn't look at them properly," he said.

Phil handed him the box.

"If you don't like the style we can get different ones, I just wanted... It's symbolic, I guess, I wanted to have something..."

"I love them, Phil, they're perfect."

"They're... they're actually the ones we wore on that mission, the one where we were playing a married couple at the resort. I asked Fury if I could have them."

"But they're different - those ones didn't have this," Clint ran his thumb over the two parallel channels engraved into the rings all the way around.

"I had that done, I wanted them to be a little different, to make them really ours. You like them?"

"I love them, Phil. I can't wait to start wearing mine. Except in the field, of course, but I could wear it on a chain around my neck under my tac suit when we're in the field, right?"

"Yes, of course. It's not like you do undercover work any more, so that'll be fine."

"We're really going to do it this time, right?"

"As soon as we can make the arrangements. I don't want to wait any longer, do you?"

"No. Not a minute longer than we need to. Thank you Phil, for doing this. I... I've been thinking about it lately, but I didn't know how to bring it up."

"You could have just said, 'Hey, Phil, about that marriage thing.'"

"Well, I'm glad I didn't. I'm glad you did it this way. Now I'll always remember the look on your face when you asked me to marry you. I love you Phil."

"Love you too."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks always to my excellent editors t! and Shazrolane.
> 
> Find me on Tumblr at: [Queen of Wands](http://jmathieson-fic.tumblr.com/)


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